Zee Kiwi's in the Med

Hi all and apologies for delay in posting blog.
Kalamwra from Lefkas, Greece.
Great trip from Sicily across the bottom of Italy to our first Greek Island, Orthoni, beautiful little spot and made better. Y first meal there at small,Taverna run by one man( we called him Zorba)' he was chief cook and bottle washer, about 8 tables in all on edge of water. great meal, lovely spot.
Then across to Corfu where we stayed a few days just north of Corfu township.
Then over to Albania to get the boat out of the EU,, which we had to do within 18 months of purchase. Agim at Sarande, Albania was great and handled all our documentation, Albania interesting like a fairly poor Italian or Spanish Town but trying to up the anti, lovely people and cheap!!
Then back to Corfu to get Greek Cruising permit, think I lost 1 kilo over that, then headed down To Paxos and then across to mainland to have a look at our possible wintering spot at Preveza, then thru Levkas canal to Levkas and then Meganisi, now back on Levkas. have circum navigated Onassis' island of Skorpios which Has now apparently be been bought by Russians, guards .on the beach .
Have met NZ families, the Becks from Otaki on MOXIE, Ted and Jenny from Tauranga on ELIXIR and a great meeting wi John and Kerry Petersen and family on LURATA at Siracuse. Yesterday met up with Ian and Bobbie(uk) on CARLINA and MOXIE sailed into the bay this morning, the are 4 Kiwi boats in this Bay, Vlikho, just south of Nidri on Lefkas.
Thought it might be a good idea to give you a idea of what we do all day,
Well it's sort of like this,
JT get up early, potters around changing and making things,I get up late, breakfast, maybe a swim, maybe a walk or bike ride, usually to get food and beer and wine!! A lot of time is spent cleaning BUT only if we are early enough as its hot, around 36/40 degrees most days. Back on board boat, relax, read,
iced tea, by now it's lunchtime, after lunch maybe a couple of jobs then its siesta time, after that, tidy up boat, swim, may be
tidy up ourselves! Then. Y now it's usually time for snacks and nibbles and per dinner drinks, then dinner on boat maybe a BBQ or dinner out. Tonight we are going to the local Yacht club with Ian and Bobbie.
Now keep in mind between all these activities we are SAILING between islands/ places. Where are we going next, have no,idea really!! but tomorrow will head .south, catch up with Erin,s brother Brian on Kefalonia on 25 August.
Weather has been fine and hot, wind variable.
Well better go, time for a swim before drinks!!
OH and also JT is very well, blood pressure is if anything a trifle low, but otherwise all well.
Ciao for now

Hi all and apologies for delay in posting blog.
Kalamwra from Lefkas, Greece.
Great trip from Sicily across the bottom of Italy to our first Greek Island, Orthoni, beautiful little spot and made better. Y first meal there at small,Taverna run by one man( we called him Zorba)' he was chief cook and bottle washer, about 8 tables in all on edge of water. great meal, lovely spot.
Then across to Corfu where we stayed a few days just north of Corfu township.
Then over to Albania to get the boat out of the EU,, which we had to do within 18 months of purchase. Agim at Sarande, Albania was great and handled all our documentation, Albania interesting like a fairly poor Italian or Spanish Town but trying to up the anti, lovely people and cheap!!
Then back to Corfu to get Greek Cruising permit, think I lost 1 kilo over that, then headed down To Paxos and then across to mainland to have a look at our possible wintering spot at Preveza, then thru Levkas canal to Levkas and then Meganisi, now back on Levkas. have circum navigated Onassis' island of Skorpios which Has now apparently be been bought by Russians, guards .on the beach .
Have met NZ families, the Becks from Otaki on MOXIE, Ted and Jenny from Tauranga on ELIXIR and a great meeting wi John and Kerry Petersen and family on LURATA at Siracuse. Yesterday met up with Ian and Bobbie(uk) on CARLINA and MOXIE sailed into the bay this morning, the are 4 Kiwi boats in this Bay, Vlikho, just south of Nidri on Lefkas.
Thought it might be a good idea to give you a idea of what we do all day,
Well it's sort of like this,
JT get up early, potters around changing and making things,I get up late, breakfast, maybe a swim, maybe a walk or bike ride, usually to get food and beer and wine!! A lot of time is spent cleaning BUT only if we are early enough as its hot, around 36/40 degrees most days. Back on board boat, relax, read,
iced tea, by now it's lunchtime, after lunch maybe a couple of jobs then its siesta time, after that, tidy up boat, swim, may be
tidy up ourselves! Then. Y now it's usually time for snacks and nibbles and per dinner drinks, then dinner on boat maybe a BBQ or dinner out. Tonight we are going to the local Yacht club with Ian and Bobbie.
Now keep in mind between all these activities we are SAILING between islands/ places. Where are we going next, have no,idea really!! but tomorrow will head .south, catch up with Erin,s brother Brian on Kefalonia on 25 August.
Weather has been fine and hot, wind variable.
Well better go, time for a swim before drinks!!
OH and also JT is very well, blood pressure is if anything a trifle low, but otherwise all well.
Ciao for now

Well at last on our way from NZ! Don't know why it is always a beautiful day when we leave there!?
Great flight from Melbourne to Dubai, I even managed 7 hours sleep, what a difference that makes.But why, in Dubai,do they need heated toilet seats in the loos when the temperature outside at 6 am in the morning is 40 degrees????
Arrived Malta mid afternoons and enjoyed wandering around in the evening. Very hot. Hotel in great location near Grand Harbour. Loved Malta and spent 2 days touring main island. Lots of history there, poor buggers must of gotten sick of being conquered by so many countries, no wonder they have such a unique dialect.
Anyway, 3 hours by ferry to Pozzallo, Sicily then 30 minutes. Y taxi to Marina di Ragusa. Zee Kiwi was all good, a fair bit of Sahara sand and Mt Etna ash, but several days cleaning soon fixed that, BUT each day we receive more sand, dust etc so might wait till we are away from her before the next big clean.
marina di Ragusa is the" seaside town" to the,Ian town of Ragusa which is 30 minutes inland, a bit like Orewa is to Auckland. A very tidy town, nota shred of rubbish anywhere. So most days cleaning, shopping on our trust steeds ( read bikes) and JT having a great time doing STUFF on boat. Weather.magic, most days very hot, but we are in the siesta mode already, have to really as no one else around between 1 and 3pm.
We are waiting, waiting, waiting on a machine to arrive and have had hassles with delivery in that,
A, they'd anted VAT on the item, but when we told the we were VAT exempt as the item is going out of the EU pronto, they then said,
OH
Then
B, well we wants bond, interesting that bond value very close to VAT figure, when we then asked about getting the bond back they said
OH
C, well u are not EU residents, blah blah, we said ,YEP,we are, JT on a UK passport and me one Irish passport
OH,
Next thing we have a string of customs fees, again, about the same fees of the original VAT, we said, oh no, quote was door to door
,appears the said item is arriving next week, but instead of us being here for a week, 10 days, it is looking like we will be here 3 weeks, ish.
Social scene here is awful! happy hour at the bar, which is 200 meters away, each Thurs and Fri nights, lots of English, Aussies, Americans and a couple of USA,Kiwi coverts in their yacht KOA.
WHen we get out of here will head around the corner to Siracusa, then off to heel,of Italy, that's all for now, take care all,
Ciao from Sicily.

Hi all,
Well it's now only 2 more sleeps before we head out of this amazing place that we live, good old New Zealand, best place in the world, BUT its time to go exploring again, off Monday 17 to Malta for few days then ferry to Sicily and to Zee Kiwi up on the hard at Ragusa. get stuff sorted and the boat provisioned then will head to Ionian,
More new then
Cheers all